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Disclaimer: I don't cover the civic beat and I have not visited many corporation schools, so this is not an expert commentary on how these schools are run. I only have something good to say of the students and teachers of K C Thackeray Vidya Niketan. --- I happened to visit the school last year in December when there was a literary event in the city. The writers were visiting the school as part of an outreach programme. The first thing that one of the author (she isn't from India) said to me was that the school had a 'first-class' computer lab. That's encouraging. What impressed me was the cleanliness standard of the school - extremely high. A very good sign considering that the school is not located in the poshest of locality. Even the dog, (a stray)adopted by the students/school, was clean. Yes, the dog acutally attended the story-telling session along with the students. He lay quietly in one corner - not a whimper or a bark from him. When the story failed to in

Dear Aai, I was reading a book last night, Rujwan, by Maneesha Dixit. It's one of the best books I have read; there are a few more chapters left to read. The author has written about her father and brother and other people in her life. Actually, you could call it a book of portraits – of people, of relationships and the knots that bind them together. She has dealt with the deaths of her father and brother with sensitivity. Some expressions and emotions described in the book cut me to the core. I knew that feeling of foreboding; something inauspicious, bad is going to stare me in my face. I don't know why you chose me, out of your three kids, to tell that you aren't going to live long. That was on September 3, and 17 days later you passed away. You had uttered these words earlier too, sometimes as an emotional blackmail, sometimes as a mock threat. But, that night on September 3, I knew you were speaking the truth. I could sense death marching closer and closer. Trust m

I think we are acting like “sheep”..where one goes, several follow. How else can you describe this coverage of Vidya Balan as the media-nominated brand ambassador for sarees? Has it escaped everyone's notice that Sonakshi Sinha in all her hitherto movies has been dressed in sarees? Remember Dabangg, Dabangg 2 and now her forthcoming Lootera? Sonakshi might not be a powerhouse performer like Vidya Balan, but looks a lot better than her. There were hardly any newsreports covering Cannes Film Festival; any ignoramus will think that Cannes is a fashion show; catty comments, bitching and some more bitching about Indian Princess wearing nathni. The only Indian who stood out there, not because of her sartorial sense, was Nandita Das. Discreet, elegant and sophisticated and INTELLIGENT. YJHD crossing so many crore benchmark is a joke. How can anyone like this movie? This, self-congratulatory, well-done pat on the back, which Karan Johar needs every now and then? And, since no

Had attended a lecture series on "Women in Mahabharat" by Aaranyavaak. Speaker was Dr Sucheta Paranjpe. This blog is just a reproduction of notes that I took during the lecture. Kunti Unlike Gandhari, Kunti stood up for her sons. They had Kunti’s unwavering support. Only exception was Karna. Kunti must have been sad when she set him afloat on the river, bundled in a casket. There’s a song which describes her state of mind, which is included in Durgabai Bhagwat’s Vyasparva. When Kunti realizes who Karna is, before the war, she goes to him and asks him to join the Pandavas, but Karna doesn’t agree. That’s not ethical on Kunti’s part. Similarly, she also fails Draupadi, when she inadvertently advises her sons that the “goods” Arjuna had bought should be shared equally amongst the five brothers. When she comes out of her suite (or kitchen), and sees that it’s Draupadi and not fruits as she had assumed, Kunti should have taken back her words. But, she doesn’t. Instead sh

I have been reading a lot about Anuja Chauhan, the one who came up with the now famous Pepsi tagline – Nothing official about it! She is the newest entrant, it seems, to the chick lit genre. I have not read chick lit, so I wasn't sure what to expect. References to marriages, good daughters, bad daughters....and Men. Men you can swoon over. Is that what one finds in chick lit? I still don't know. I did read Chauhan's 'Those pricey Thakur girls', but I am not wiser to know if it qualifies the tag of chick-lit genre. Anyway, my reason for picking up the book, was purely personal. The book is set in the 80s, the decade in which I was born. And, it has a DD newsreader and a print journalist in conflict mode. Endearing, lost and looking for honest, kind and brave man, Debjani Thakur finds herself in love with Dylan Singh Shekawat. He of the Manglorean Christian and Rajput parentage and the fearless, young advocate of “Truth. Balance. Courage”, (motto of the paper he w

I chanced on "Miracle" on Zee Studio last evening. It's the movie on which Chak De! India is based, or to put it more blunty - Chak De! India was "inspired" by Miracle. Out and out copy. Okay, there are a few differences - it's US vs Soviet conflict playing in the background; the coach is not battling charges of  being a "traitor"; Herb Brooks almost made it to the 1960 US Olympics team, but was cut out in the last week before the Games. He is chosen to coach the US Ice Hockey Team, in times when the country's morale has been bruised and hurt; the Soviets appear invincible. And, the boys he is leading belong to rival Universities - Minnesota and Boston. In the Indian version, we have the States. The "India" call which set the mood for Chak De...came in much later in Miracle. I found this movie a lot better - you can see for yourself that SRK's mannerisms, posturing is based on the Brooks guy. The former is more "aggro&qu

Thankfully, I ended my movie drought after watching, Listen...Amaya first and then Special Chabbis. First..Listen...Amaya. I am betting that those who had gathered to watch the movie in the half-empty hall (or half-full, depends on how you see the world) had come for Deepti Naval and Farooque Shaikh magic. The magic is there, alright, but I have two serious objections about two words in the movie - about which the movie is incidentally based on. "Modern" is one word and "Mature" is another. I would have replaced Modern with "Liberal" and Mature with "sensitivity". Leela (Deepti Naval) and Jai Sinha or Jazz as he is called (Farooque Shaikh) are widowers. Leela runs a coffee shop cum book shop called "Book a cafe". And, Jazz is an amateur photographer, capturing pics of Leela and her daughter, Amaya (Swara Bhaskar) and also reminscing about his wife and daughter, Aditi killed in an accident. The two find love again after a long tim